


Hare Before, Trouble Behind

by elderbwrry



Series: Huxloween [3]
Category: Dredd (2012), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base - SNL Sketch
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Explicit Sexual Content, Huxloween, Huxloween 2020, Kylo Ren is Not Matt the Radar Technician, M/M, Matt the Farmer, Were-Creatures, kylux adjacent, slight mention of an animal caught in a trap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:15:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26901238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elderbwrry/pseuds/elderbwrry
Summary: Huxloween day 8: Were-AnimalsMatt's farm is in the middle of nowhere, a rolling countryside of hills and valleys. There's rarely anyone new in the local town and Matt's been alone for months, but one day, at the farmer's fair, a lovely young man with hair like silk and eyes like the bluest ocean is standing with the other hirelings. Techie, he says his name is, and Matt can't resist. There's just something about him...
Relationships: Clan Techie (Dredd)/Matt the Radar Technician
Series: Huxloween [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1957468
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32
Collections: Huxloween 2020





	Hare Before, Trouble Behind

_Matt's farm is in the middle of nowhere, a rolling countryside of hills and valleys. There's rarely anyone new in the local town and Matt's been alone for months, but one day, at the farmer's fair, a lovely young man with hair like silk and eyes like the bluest ocean is standing with the other hirelings. Techie, he says his name is, and Matt can't resist. There's just something about him..._

When Matt had first laid eyes upon the young man at the farmer's fair, he'd had to remove his glasses and rub them clean on the inside of his shirt. The young man was fair of skin and hair both, slight and beautiful, and Matt at first thought he'd mistaken a lady for one of the farmhands milling about and looking for work; however, there was no mistake.

Matt minded his business for a while – there was much to be organised for the coming season, and the fair was busy – but he never once lost sight of the man, the way he stood just apart from the group of other hirelings, the way his yellow shirt hung too-large off his frame, the way he squinted against the glare of the sun with downcast eyes. Before too long, Matt could no longer stop himself from walking up and talking to him.

“You looking for work?” he asked, immediately cursing himself for his inelegance – he wanted to make a good impression, but he knew he spoke loudly, bluntly, moved brusquely, and he often wished he didn't. His size and strength were perfectly at home on the farm, but he knew it tended to intimidate people like the fair young man, people he wanted nothing more than to impress and be kind to.

The man flinched a little and didn't look up to meet Matt's eyes, but he held his ground. “Y-yeah,” he replied with a small nod.

“Farm work is tough,” Matt told him, wishing the man would raise his chin so he could see him better. “I've got the muscles for it, which I've worked hard on, I-”

“I can do it,” the man said, suddenly straightening up. “I know I d-don't look like it, but I can work and I-I'll do whatever tasks around the farmhouse if you need and... I'll do it for cheap.”

Now he stood straight, he was much taller. He still only reached Matt's eyeline, but Matt could care less. The man was finally looking up and Matt could see his eyes; they were so blue, more vibrant than Matt had ever known was possible. He didn't know what he would do if this was the only time he could see this beautiful creature before him. Matt's hand was in his pocket and drawing out his money before the man could even finish promising he could work.

They left the fair just as dusk was beginning to draw in, trudging away up the hill to the farm. Matt's pockets were heavy, with how little the man had asked as pay, but his heart was light; he couldn't take his eyes off the man next to him, least of all the way his long, silky hair slipped forward over his face. “My name's Matt,” Matt said as they walked.

The man offered him a small smile behind his hair, and a flash of those too-blue eyes. “I'm Techie,” he said. “It's nice to meet you, Matt.”

Matt could do nothing but believe him.

At first, it was strange.

It wasn't a large farm; it had been only Matt for a few months now, since the last farm hand had left and he had been alone. The loneliness hadn't bothered him so terribly, except that he'd had no-one to talk to, and he'd managed the work just fine on his own. Now, an unconventional mix of those things as it was, it was the best he'd ever felt with another person on the farm.

Techie wasn't strong – Matt had known as much the second he saw him – so Matt still did all the lifting work, but having such lovely company all the time was wonderful, and he talked for hours about this and that, and whatever he wanted, because Techie seemed to enjoy his constant speech, rabbiting on about something he'd remembered or heard in town or seen on the tiny television at the farmhouse.

Matt would be clearing something in the yard while Techie fed the chickens, and Matt would talk to him; Matt would be herding the cows and Techie would walk down to him with water and an apple, and Matt would talk to him; Matt would sit down at the kitchen table after a long day while Techie made dinner, and Matt would talk to him. All the time, Matt would talk, and Techie would listen.

“I like company that knows when to shut up,” Matt said one day, without thinking. He frowned at the phrasing – that didn't mean what he wanted it to, and the way Techie's brow creased made him feel bad. He cursed himself, wished he had a better way with words, rather than just allowing it all to tumble out exactly as he thought it. “Wait – I mean, that the last person here said I talked too much,” he explained, “didn't like the noise all the time, talked over me. I really like that you listen to me. You're really good at it.”

A smile bloomed on Techie's face, and the frown was gone like a freak gust of wind or the moon coming out from behind a cloud. “I like listening to you,” he said with his soft voice, “your voice is nice and I think you're really interesting.”

Matt's face had felt lopsided the whole day with how wide he'd grinned after that.

He found himself thinking of Techie at all hours of the day and even into the night. The moon would be beaming its way in through the window, and Matt would be thinking about Techie's voice, his smile. He had work to do the next day, and he knew the dawn would not be kind to him when he needed to wake up, but he was too lost on an ocean of those gorgeous eyes. (Matt had never seen an ocean in his life, but the way people spoke about it, he was sure it must be the exact shade of blue that washed over him whenever Techie looked at him.)

Late into the night, he would be wrapped up in his sheets in his too-empty bed, in the old farmhouse which felt too large to have only two people in it. All the vacant space seemed to make the two of them stand out more, and Matt was hyper-aware at every moment of where Techie was and what he was doing. Now, he was surely in the smaller room down the corridor, asleep soundly in his bed.

When Matt finally fell asleep, he dreamed of a great, tall tower which reached up into the sky. He would fight his way through it, throwing off all kinds of enemies with a strength greater even than the one he already possessed, until he reached the top. There, reclined on a bed of flowers and vines lay Techie, like one of the magical sleeping beauties in the books Matt's mother read to him as a child, and Matt would get to be the one to wake him with a kiss.

When the morning came, the first rays of the sun touching Matt's skin and calling him to his day's work put him in mind of Techie's red hair. He imagined Techie's touch over his arms would be just as soft as the warm sun.

The year progressed. The weather was even more blessed than it had ever been, and Matt was hopeful for what it would produce of the farm.

One sunny day, Matt walked his way down to the cow herd. It was nearing time for the calves to be born, and Matt had begun to entrust Techie with the task of calling them all in. Life on the farm seemed to do Techie good – he seemed so much happier every day now than he had when Matt had first met him at the fair – and, as usual, he went about his task lightly, humming a tune as he started off down the track to their field. He hadn't come back yet, though, and Matt thought he'd better go looking for him, just in case.

From a distance down the track, rounding a corner past a few blackthorns, Matt could see Techie standing with the herd gathered round him. The sun was trickled over everything like honey, making even the early summer grass sheen yellow with its light. Techie's hair was gleaming, swept lightly to the side by the gentle breeze. He looked like something magical, a sprite, a spirit of the earth, like he knew every field and rabbit hole for miles around, and like he ruled it all.

Matt paused to watch, putting his hands on his hips and taking in the sight a second longer. Techie seemed so in his element, like he belonged to the field and the sky and the sun, his fingers outstretched to feel the air, his back straight and his stance open. He was faced away from Matt, but still he was so beautiful, and it almost struck Matt down.

Matt continued his approach, unable to stop his heavy work boots from crunching on the stony part of the path. Techie turned as he heard him, ducking his head and smiling, almost embarrassed, as his hair fell over his eyes. “What are you, uh... doing?” Matt asked lightly, but it came out sceptical anyway.

“Enjoying the day,” Techie replied, glancing back at the cows, only now starting to spread out into the field, as if they had been stopping to listen to him.

“It's really nice,” Matt noted, looking around. He wanted to go forward just a little more, lift Techie's chin, stroke his hair back behind his ear, tell him to enjoy the sun even more, but he knew he would only be awkward about it. He pictured it, and only managed to imagine his fingers poking Techie as they tried to move the strands of hair. Instead, he pointed out over the valley they were perched on an upper hill of and told Techie all about the other farms they could see and what he thought about the farmers.

A small “Oh!” from Techie interrupted him eventually, as one of the cows came up and nuzzled his hand for attention.

“She seems to like you,” Matt said, offering Techie what he hoped was an encouraging smile. He always felt awkward when he did this, his glasses pushed up by his cheeks, and he worried his face looked too wonky or forced. He wished he could do it as easily or as sweetly as how Techie now smiled in return, still behind that curtain of hair.

“She's so sweet,” Techie said, smoothing a hand down her neck to her shoulder, and she responded with a happy huff. “She'll be giving birth in a month or so.”

Matt nodded. “Yes, a couple of them will, I expect.” He'd of course kept close tabs on his animals – he was good at his job, good at taking care of them, and he took great pride at making sure they were well looked after – but he hadn't known Techie had any idea which ones were pregnant. Perhaps it was just intuition.

Techie patted the cow's shoulder, and she seemed to take it as a farewell, turning and ambling off to the rest of the herd. “Should we go back to the farm?” Techie asked, his voice lovely as ever. “You can tell me more about farmer Randy.”

A month later, the cows did indeed give birth, to the happiest and healthiest calves Matt had ever seen. He'd told Techie all about it being special, excited that things should be going so well, expressing his surprise at how strong they all were. Techie had just told him he knew they would be.

“You're like my good luck charm, Techie,” Matt said over the dinner Techie had prepared, including the best potatoes Matt had ever had in his life, “my own bit of magic. Everything's been coming up roses since you came around.”

Techie smiled and let his hair fall over his eyes.

Still, Matt thought about Techie at all hours.

Each evening, he wished him goodnight at his door and then wished he had the courage to lean forward and kiss him like he did in his dreams. The dream – of the dangerous tower with Techie in a bed of flowers at the top, full of horrible people and reaching like a great cinder block into the sky – was becoming a recurring one, and every morning just before he woke up, Matt would get to kiss him, would get to be his knight in shining armour.

It was like a veil of thin gauze was all that separated Matt from kissing Techie in real life; all the veil was, was consciousness and action. But such magic didn't exist in real life. No kiss would magically heal Techie or wake him up or make him suddenly love Matt back.

He wished more than he ever had before that he was a knight.

One morning, a cry from Techie had Matt dropping the pail of water he was carrying and running around to the side of the barn as fast as possible.

“What is it?” he asked, flustered, his hands settling themselves on Techie's shoulders before he'd even realised he was doing it, looking over him to check for any sign of what the problem was. “Are you hurt?”

“N-no, I'm fine,” Techie said, leaning into his space slightly. (Enough that Matt's heart soared.) “It's the chickens.”

It seemed a fox had gotten into the hen house overnight. Strewn around atop the shavings were feathers of the few unfortunate birds that didn't make it. Most of them were fine – just a bit ruffled – but it was quite a sight. Not one Matt hadn't seen before, of course, but it seemed to make Techie alarmed.

“It's alright,” Matt soothed, and, with what felt to him like the breaking of a sheet of ice on a bucket of water, Techie broke whatever barrier had existed between them and stepped into his arms. It left Matt stunned for a moment, but eventually, he drew Techie into himself more and rubbed his back. He was unable to believe his luck at having Techie come to him for comfort and affection, even in this small way, but he was unwilling to let such a thing happen without doing his best to cheer Techie up.

He led Techie back into the house and made tea, sitting them both down on the worn old sofa in the shady living room, sparsely furnished with the tiny television, shelf and table, and covered at the windows by faded floral curtains. Techie had slowly, but surely, been making additions to the shelf, and it was partly populated by interesting stones and twigs he'd found, as well as some lovely little models he'd twisted out of chicken wire, of animals and trees from around the farm. Matt's favourite was the little hare closest to the end, Techie's latest addition; it was so elegant and poised, just like Techie. Somehow, though, the emptiness of the room except for this made it seem more intimate, and the two of them sat close on the sofa, Techie still leaning into Matt for comfort.

“I'm sorry,” Techie said when half his tea was finished, tightening his fingers round the porcelain cup and resting it nervously in his lap.

“About what?” Matt genuinely wasn't sure what Techie felt he needed to apologise for.

Techie shrugged. “About screaming. I just got a surprise is all...”

“It's okay,” Matt told him lifting his arm and laying it over Techie's shoulders, encouraging his small frame closer with a squeeze.

“It was a shock and I... I feel all bad about violent things. Reminds me of...” Techie trailed off. Matt could tell it was tough for him to be speaking about this, could tell there was something deeper there, from his past.

“Oh, Techie,” he said, not wanting to press. If Techie was going to tell him, he wanted it to be because he was ready, not because he'd been rushed. Matt let his head fall to the side and rest on top of Techie's, just at the point at which Techie sniffed. Matt squeezed him again, a one armed hug. “Drink your tea, I'm here now,” he reassured.

They sat for a while like that, Matt wanting nothing more than to soothe Techie completely, to wrap him up in his bed and let him sleep where he could look out for him, farm work be damned. When finally their drinks were finished, Matt took Techie's cup from him and turned to look at him directly.

“I'll put some fox traps out,” he said, “so there won't be anything else like this.”

Techie frowned, his big, blue eyes so soulful, so concerned. “Won't that..?”

Matt nodded his head, but immediately added, “I'll put them out and take care of them, so you don't have to worry. I don't want you to ever worry.”

Techie bit his lip, but nodded in return. “Do you mind if I go talk to the cows for a bit? The young ones are so calming.”

“Of course,” Matt said, standing and heading to the kitchen. “I'll sort things out while you're gone.”

As Matt retrieved the traps from the shed with their wicked, levered jaws, he watched Techie go, watched the way he gradually became more open and free as he got back to rolling fields and sun and breeze. He smiled, his chest still warm from the feeling of having Techie so close to him, in his arms. He wanted to have him close again.

A few nights later, Matt is torn out of his sleep by an awful shrieking sound, a pained, terrified wail that seems so present to his ears and makes all his hair stand on end. His skin feels prickly and suddenly sensitive as he rushes to the window and looks out, shoving his glasses on his face. The moon is full, casting everything in a waxy shadow like the yellowish colour of bone, but he can't see anything down at the front of the barn over which his window looks.

He quickly dresses, pulling on his usual white vest and adding his yellow tartan coat on top, to stave off the chill of the night, and hurries out of his room. He glances in to Techie's room as he passes; the door is ajar, and he's sure the other man will have been woken by the shrieking as well, but when he looks, the room is empty. Feeling something sink in his chest, Matt clatters down the stairs and grabs a lantern and the shotgun from the kitchen before heading out.

Now he's outside, the moon is almost yellowish too, skimming behind clouds and making the way look more treacherous than it is. The place should be clear, but he stumbles over little dips in the stones, tricked by the dual light sources.

He has a bad feeling about this. The abrupt awakening has unsettled him, disturbed from his dream of fighting his way through the hostile tower block before he could reach the top and see his love safe. Something feels unfinished about it, and now, where is Techie? Did he go out? Was he just in another room? Matt wants nothing more than to go back inside, find Techie and curl up in bed with him, away from the chilly eeriness of the dark. He picks up his pace.

All the while, the shrieking does not stop.

He passes the barn and the hen house on his search, and sees them both as they should be, undisturbed. The whole place seems empty and echoing, no sound but the rustling of things moving in the wind, the crunch of his boots on gravel and the god awful shrieking. Finally, he rounds a corner, having hunted down that torn voice to its source.

On a small patch of vines and flowers, behind the old plough, is one of the fox traps, sprung on something that is alive and screaming. In the gloom, Matt can't see what it is, so he holds out the dark lantern. The dim, flickering light it casts reveals a hare, a small animal of grey-brown hair flecked through with ginger, its hind leg caught in the jaws of the trap as it struggles to free itself. On seeing Matt, it struggles only harder.

Matt sighs, but knowing what's happened isn't much of a weight lifted. The poor thing has so much life left in it yet, but that wound doesn't look to be one the hare will heal from. He regrets that it was caught up in something like this which wasn't meant for it. He doesn't want to leave it, and he doesn't want to kill it, but what does he know about caring for such a small, skittish thing? It would be kinder to put it down.

Feeling immensely guilty and glad Techie isn't here to see such a senseless thing, Matt raises the shotgun and aims.

But suddenly, the thing stops struggling. Matt frowns. Why now? He peers down at the small animal, no longer in the direct light of the lamp. It's twitching, shifting in place. Suddenly, with a jolt, it doubles in size.

Matt stumbles back, riveted, horrified, unable to take his eyes off the thing as it continues to grow, change, shift. The moon comes out from a cloud, and before Matt's eyes, fur falls off the hare like moss off a stone, it's angular head thickening and changing colour. Its top lip thins. Its eyes sink like dough with the air knocked out of it. Its back uncurves and its legs twist round, until eventually, what is before Matt is something he can hardly believe, something his mind is actively rejecting.

Gripping tight the handle of the lowered shotgun at his side, Matt squints out. “Techie?”

“Matt, I'm sorry,” Techie begins, looking up at him with wide, panicked eyes. He is where the hare had been, sat on the ground, the fox trap biting at his ankle. He _was_ the hare. But now he is naked, his white skin bare to the night, shining under the pale moon. “I went outside and got stuck in this … this _thing_.”

“But you-” Matt stutters out, pointing with the lantern hand, forehead furrowed like the fields at sewing season, “you were-”

“I know, Matt-”

“ _You_ were the hare!” he shouts, his fear and shock getting the better of him. Techie had been the hare just a minute ago. He... That was magic, that was dark magic, the kind the old man in the village rambled about when Matt had been too young to even properly remember. Dark, old magic, the kind priests warned about, and Matt is letting every one of these thoughts come tumbling out his mouth in a torrent before he even realises he is doing it.

“Matt!” Techie cries eventually in an attempt to make him stop and _listen_ , his voice pained and cracking. “P-put down the gun! Please!”

Matt looks down at the weapon in his hand, still lowered, but swinging every time he gesticulates, getting more worked up as he allows his thoughts to run away with him. He... he'd been about to fire it on Techie... Techie, who is looking at it with an expression of pure anxiety. And – of course! – he doesn't like violent things.

Matt feels sick.

He puts down the gun faster than he's done anything in his life, but doesn't come closer just yet. He is still wary, and he is still confused.

“M-Matt, can you help me?” Techie asks, voice wavering over the words. “I'll tell you everything, I'm s-sorry I didn't already, please...”

Nervously, Matt begins to step forward, approaching Techie, his gaze flitting between Techie's face and the mess of his ankle. He comes up until the fox trap lies at his feet, slowly crouching down like he is approaching a dangerous animal, not his house mate and friend, ready to jump back at any time, should any more of that... dark magic stuff occur again.

Looking down at Techie's foot, he takes in a sharp breath. It isn't mangled, per se, but more damage has been done to it than would have been done to a normal human foot. Techie is lucky it isn't gone clean off, as he'd been caught by it in... in hare form. If Matt hadn't hallucinated it all, that is... he'd been half-asleep still, maybe it had just been... some kind of trick of the light...

“How did you manage this?” Matt asks, lowering his hands to the mechanism to spring the jaws open.

“I was running...” Techie explains, looking down at it, his full lips open in a pained _o_. “I didn't see it until I'd already jumped into it.”

Matt nods, trying to keep himself under control. He doesn't want to believe it what Techie seems to be implying, but... it seems clear. He hadn't hallucinated anything. “I'm going to open it.”

“It's going to h-hurt,” Techie whimpers, acknowledging, but the sad anticipation in his voice is enough to have Matt feeling so _guilty_ and bad and, oh, he wants to hold Techie again, tell him it will all be alright, regardless of whatever he is.

“You need to lift your foot out,” Matt instructs, “In three, two, one!” He pulls the jaws of the trap open with strong hands, and, with a pained noise, Techie bends his knee so his foot is out of the way before Matt lets the jaws go again. They snap closed with a wicked _clang._

Techie's foot is bloody, with strange, ripped tooth marks from the trap and... from how his skin moved during the change, Matt supposes, his mind feeling untethered every time he thinks of it. He doesn't... understand. He doesn't know if he can. But that doesn't matter right now, because Techie's teeth are chattering and he looks scared of Matt, which he knows is a way he never wants Techie to look.

“Here,” Matt shuffles closer, removing his coat and putting it around Techie's shoulders, helping his thin arms into the sleeves, “Let's get you inside.”

Matt offers Techie an arm, but instead, Techie just sobs, “Mattie,” and throws his arms around Matt's neck. Automatically, Matt makes a decision and acts on it, looping one arm around Techie's back, another under his knees and lifting him, carrying him bridal-style across the yard to the house.

Techie isn't very heavy, so it's no difficulty getting him through the kitchen, up the stairs and down the dark corridor to Matt's room. He fits just perfectly in Matt's arms, so much so that he's almost sad when he lays Techie down on his bed, back propped up against the wall to the head of it.

Matt flicks on the bedside lamp, casting Techie in a soft glow, allowing Matt to see him properly. He's pale – too pale – from the shock and the cold, and Matt offers him the blankets over his coat, all except for his ankle, sticking out for Matt to see the damage the trap has done.

He fetches some bandages and towels from the bathroom, along with water. He gulps as he props Techie's foot up on the towels and gets to work, deciding it's better to get on with it rather than pushing questions onto Techie. Matt cleans the skin gently until the blood, bits of dirt and remnants of strange, small hairs are gone and it looks good enough to start with the bandages. Techie won't be able to walk on that foot for a little while, but he'll heal.

“You're quiet,” Techie observes as he begins, hissing when Matt's hand slips at the sudden sound.

“Sorry,” Matt winces with him, righting the bandage where it came out of place. He's avoiding looking up at Techie's eyes, worried what he'll see there. He shrugs. “I don't know what to say.”

“Something,” Techie pleads, “anything, just...” he sniffs, and it finally causes Matt to face him. His blue eyes are large and sad, full of tears that have collected against his fair lower eyelashes but haven't yet fallen. “Please don't leave me. Matt?”

Matt sighs, hanging his head. He doesn't want to leave Techie. He doesn't want to hurt Techie. But... this thing scares him, this magic. “What are you?”

“A were-hare,” Techie tells him, ducking his head in turn and hiding behind that curtain of hair Matt is so used to. It calms him, though; this is still the Techie he's always known.

“It's not magic, then?” Matt asks, “You're not like a... like a warlock, or anything?”

Techie shakes his head. “It's n-not that kind of magic, no. I understand the animals a little, and I think I'm g-good for them to be near, like the cows, but that's it...”

A weight eases off of Matt, one he'd no idea he had been holding. He doesn't even know what he has to fear, but this... this is all bigger than him. He's happy just to _not_ know things. His cousin, Kylo, had been so interested in things like this when they were younger, and look at where it'd got him...

“Why didn't you tell me earlier?”

“I...” Techie's mouth is moving silently, like he's looking for words that won't come, glancing around at anywhere but Matt. “I didn't know how you'd react. I... I've been caged,” he shivers at the memory, “before.”

“I would never do that to you,” Matt promises.

“I didn't know that then.”

Matt could understand that. “I promise you now.” His hand is resting on Techie's slim ankle, just above where the bandaging ends, and now he slides it up just a little more and squeezes his leg reassuringly. “I promise.”

Techie gives a small smile out from behind his hair. “Thank you, Matt.”

“Is that why you're out here, on a farm in the middle of nowhere? You're not the usual kind of person we see out here on the farms,” Matt asks a second later. “You ran away?”

Techie nods.

Matt's brow is deeply furrowed. Who would do such a thing to anyone? Hurt someone like that... especially Techie, who is so lovely and beautiful and kind, who Matt wants nothing more than to see stand free and open in the fields, basking in the sunlight and the open air. Actually... that made a lot more sense, now.

“When I came here,” Techie says, interrupting Matt's line of thought, “everything was so perfect. It's secluded and peaceful, and the animals are so gentle, and you're so sweet, but I've m-messed it all up, now, Matt...” His tears are falling freely now, and his breath begins to hiccup over words as he brings his hands up to cover his eyes. “I couldn't take trying to stop the change for so long. I've got to change, sometimes, or else it hurts, and I just c-couldn't hold it any m-more, can you-”

Without thinking, Matt reaches forward and does what he's been wanting to do since he first set eyes on Techie. He strokes the hair out of his face, nudges away his hands and thumbs the tears off of his cheeks. If Matt's fingers are clumsy, Techie doesn't seem to notice, pressing his eyes shut and letting Matt touch him, nuzzling just a little into the touch at his jaw. “You haven't messed it up,” Matt whispers, “I still love you, and nothing you could do will make me stop.”

On that word, the one word Matt hadn't known was coming or that he'd even meant to say, Techie's eyes fly open, a flash of blue like a warm wave, inundating Matt to his very core until he's lost in the ocean of Techie. “You l-love me?” he asks, and Matt's heart soars as he recognises the hopeful, honest tone.

He swallows hard. “I do.”

“M-Matt,” Techie whimpers, pushing off of the wall behind him and shifting over until he is straddling Matt. The blankets are wrapped around his lower half still, for some modesty, but Matt's coat is slipping down off his shoulders and hanging around his waist, exposing his back and chest.

And all Matt can think is that he's so beautiful, his smooth skin, his fair hair, his eyes – the way Techie feels above him like this, resting his weight on him, happily in his arms... Matt wants to tell him, and he does, delighting in the blush that springs up on Techie's cheeks and chest at the words, like he's been kissed by the sun. Matt's hands find their way to Techie's waist, and Techie's hands end up at Matt's jaw as he draws him into a long awaited kiss, which feels to Matt like a summer's day and a thousand blessings poured upon him at once.

One kiss turns into two, two into three, and then into more, as hands begin to wander and find their way into hair and under fabric. Matt's glasses are knocked askew when Techie pulls on his hair, lacing the blonde curls through his fingers with hunger, but Matt doesn't care and won't take them off, lest he miss any tiny detail. A minute later, and Techie is plucking at the stringy straps of his vest, making Matt put his arms up so he can take it off. This time, once his shirt is gone, Techie rights his glasses for him, and, when confronted by the way Matt is gazing up at him, frowns and says, “W-what?”

“You,” Matt responds easily, and the word just feels _right_. Techie is gorgeous, his lips swollen and pupils blown wide from the kissing. His hair is just a little out of place – Matt can only imagine how he himself looks – but what he really can't get over is seeing Techie so wrapped up in his coat, his sheet, his arms; his. This beautiful creature, after everything that's just happened, choosing to be here, with him. “Techie,” he breathes, leaning up to rejoin their lips.

“I want you, Matt,” is all Techie has to say to stir Matt into further action. Tensing, he stands and turns them, stomach fluttering when Techie praises his strength, laying him down on the bed beneath him and going to the bedside drawer to find the bottle of lube he'd bought from the nearby town's one and only little pharmacy, for the nights when he just couldn't take the lack of fair company any longer.

He puts a tentative hand on the sheet still covering Techie and asks, “Can I really..?”

“Yes,” Techie moans, and as Matt moves the fabric away, he opens his legs and makes room for Matt to stand between them, over him, for them to share another kiss.

Matt slicks up his fingers and finds Techie's entrance, causing him to gasp beneath him as he begins to stretch him, surely and gently. Praises pour from his mouth as Techie opens up, and Matt basks in the little whimpers and pleas and calls of his name. “It feels good?” he asks, and Techie nods, biting his lip and bucking down into the feeling.

When finally Techie's ready, Matt opens the buttons on his trousers and pulls out his cock, a groan rising from Techie as he sees it. He spreads more lube over it, shivering at the sensation due to how hard Techie has made him, and lines up to begin pressing in.

Techie lets out a whine, along with a noise of assent, and Matt finds his hand, threading their fingers together as he bottoms out, lost in the feeling of Techie's tight, warm heat around him. He looks down at Techie, flushed already and panting, returning Matt's attention hungrily. With his free hand, he pulls Matt down by the neck into another kiss, sliding a palm down his chest along the defined line of his sternum as Matt begins to move, scraping his fingernails lightly through the sparse hair and smattering of moles he finds there.

“Matt,” Techie moans, “you feel really good, really big, ah!” Matt snaps his hips and pulls the sound from Techie, picking up the pace.

When he's getting close, Matt wraps his hand around Techie's cock, long and slender like the rest of him, managing to fit most of it in his hand as he strokes, praising Techie all the while, because Techie feels better than good – he feels _amazing_ , tight and hot and writhing in exactly the right way – and, on top of all that, Matt thinks Techie is the best person he's ever known, and seeing him in such pleasure, writhing, wrapped up in his coat still, is only pushing Matt closer.

Finally, with a long stroke of his hand, Matt says, “You're so perfect,” and Techie comes, his mouth dropping open, his back arching so much that his chest brushes Matt's where he's holding himself a few inches above him. Hot come shoots between them, over Matt's hand, and the way Techie tightens up causes Matt to tip over the edge, giving him only enough time to pull out and come over the backs of Techie's thighs instead of inside him.

They catch their breath for a moment, until Techie finds Matt's lips and kisses him, slow and tender. Matt finds he can't wait to get back to that, so he quickly retrieves one of the spare towels he'd brought and cleans Techie and himself up, shucking off the trousers and boots he hadn't worried about fully divesting himself of before, laying his glasses on his bedside table, and crawling into bed beside Techie.

Under normal circumstances, Matt's bed would be quite wide, but it was made to be wide for one, not two, so they end up squished together under the sheets, face to face while Techie traces patterns on Matt's chest.

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you before,” Techie says after a while.

Matt leans forward and kisses his forehead. “I understand. I'm sorry I found out this way.”

Techie shrugs. “I'll sh-show you properly, some time.”

“You don't have to.”

“N-no, I want to.” Then, he hesitates. “If you do..?”

Matt smiles at him, “I do. I... don't understand this, how it happens, or why, but... I want to see it. I want you to show me.”

Techie's hand comes up to follow the line of Matt's lips, his wonky smile, all the time looking enraptured. Then, he kisses Matt again, and burrows his head under Matt's chin. And, despite what Matt's seen, despite the, frankly, earth-shattering revelation that were-animals are real and that he's in love with one, Matt couldn't be happier as they fall asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this! I wasn't able to put as much time into editing it as I would have liked, so do let me know if there are any edits necessary to story or tags. It's my first Techienician fic! They have such a wonderful dynamic and are so sweet to each other. This is also another of my Huxloween 2020 offerings, this time for the prompt "Were-Animals".  
> This story is actually based on the wonderful poem by Ian Duhig, [The Lammas Hireling](https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/the-lammas-hireling/) which I totally recommend reading, as it's not long and it's quite evocative. I tried to include some of the themes and phrases, such as the hare and its links to fertility, as with the healthy calves and the cows. For all the similarities, though, this has a happier ending.  
> This is where I am on [tumbly, @elderbwrry](https://elderbwrry.tumblr.com/).  
> Thanks for reading, and for any kudos and comments you leave!


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